1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,680 Q Cam beautifully played, simply trusting, trusting Jesus, that is all. 2 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:15,980 Let's open our Bibles together please to Exodus chapter 20. 3 00:00:15,980 --> 00:00:22,000 When God gave His people the Ten Commandments, He did not take a poll to see if it pleased 4 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:25,440 them. 5 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:32,040 He gave them the Ten Commandments because that's what they needed and because it was 6 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:41,800 an expression not of the cultural values of the day but of His own character. 7 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:50,160 Nations since then have flourished by basing their values upon the Ten Commandments. 8 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:56,280 George Henderson, a British commentator of another generation, quotes an unknown author 9 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:04,520 who said, like the granite rocks of the mountain on which they were given, these precepts form 10 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:13,160 the immovable basis of the moral life of men and nations. 11 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:22,760 The Ten Commandments are like a granite foundation for a society or for the life of an individual. 12 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:29,440 God knew when He imparted the Ten Commandments that the values represented there in these 13 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:38,480 moral and spiritual standards would, if followed, if followed, make Israel the greatest nation 14 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:40,980 in the world. 15 00:01:40,980 --> 00:01:46,800 The Ten Commandments would build a strong society. 16 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:56,720 By the way, the greatest, most critical strength of any nation is not found in its military. 17 00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:00,440 It is not found in its economic system. 18 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:04,120 It is not found in its political system. 19 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:12,160 The most critical strength of any nation is found in the morality of its people. 20 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:17,840 God knows that, and that's why He gave the Ten Commandments to the nation of Israel, 21 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:23,560 at least in part, so that they as a people would be strong. 22 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:32,560 The Ten Commandments reflect His holy character, and they resonate actually with the universal 23 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:38,960 moral order that God established when He created the world. 24 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:46,840 Obeying the Ten Commandments produces a harmony in one's life and community. 25 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:52,240 On the other hand, transgressing them produces discord and destruction. 26 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:53,240 Why? 27 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:55,640 Let me repeat. 28 00:02:55,640 --> 00:03:02,960 Because the Ten Commandments reveal the character of God and thus the moral order that He has 29 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:09,560 woven into the very fabric of the universe that He has created. 30 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:14,320 There's great benefit in our study of the Ten Commandments in these coming weeks. 31 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:19,240 As a result, hopefully we will know God better ourselves. 32 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:25,720 But in addition to that, we will understand His righteousness and it will be brought into 33 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:30,640 a personal recognition of our need for a Savior. 34 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:34,180 We have to be clear regarding this and the Ten Commandments. 35 00:03:34,180 --> 00:03:42,680 God did not give the Ten Commandments so that by obeying them we could somehow earn our 36 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:44,420 salvation. 37 00:03:44,420 --> 00:03:49,840 God didn't give the Ten Commandments as a sort of stairway to heaven. 38 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:55,360 This is not a ten-step program to improve yourself so that God will accept you. 39 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:59,760 That is not the purpose of the Ten Commandments. 40 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,880 The Ten Commandments in fact have just the opposite purpose personally, and that is to 41 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:11,560 destroy us in our tendency to depend upon self-righteousness and to show us we have 42 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:19,600 nothing in ourselves that can be called righteous compared to the righteousness of God. 43 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:26,200 The apostle Paul recognizes this of course when he writes Galatians chapter 3 verse 24, 44 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:35,400 and he says the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified 45 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,080 by faith. 46 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:44,760 The word tutor there means basically a nanny kind of responsibility. 47 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:52,920 He says the Ten Commandments are like a nanny delivering us to school. 48 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:59,320 The Ten Commandments deliver us to learn about justification by faith. 49 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:06,900 And we understand that Christ died for our sins, rose again from the dead, and we believe 50 00:05:06,900 --> 00:05:10,720 in that message and we trust in that Savior. 51 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,400 And as a result of it then the law has done its work. 52 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:20,580 It's brought us to the end of ourselves and to the Savior so that we can find salvation 53 00:05:20,580 --> 00:05:24,560 by grace. 54 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:29,560 Now after establishing the singularity of the worship of the people of Israel, they 55 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:38,440 were to worship the Lord their God, he now instructs them how they are to worship the 56 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:39,920 Lord their God. 57 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:46,920 I'm going to pick up the reading in verse 4 of Exodus 20. 58 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:54,040 You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or 59 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:59,600 on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 60 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:07,720 You shall not worship them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, 61 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:13,920 visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations 62 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:21,600 of those who hate me, but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love me and keep 63 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:24,920 my commandments. 64 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:32,560 What we're going to see today is this, that how we worship, how we worship is as important 65 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:36,720 as whom we worship. 66 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:46,880 There is a way to worship God and there are many ways not to worship God. 67 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:50,800 I want us to notice first the statement of God's command. 68 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,960 It really has three parts, look at them briefly. 69 00:06:54,960 --> 00:07:01,000 He says you shall not make for yourself an idol, that's the first part. 70 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:07,880 An idol is something that is carved out of wood or stone or formed by forging some sort 71 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:11,800 of metal or precious material. 72 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:19,280 It is the forming of a figure that is stood up and declared to be divine. 73 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:22,920 He says you shall not make for yourself an idol. 74 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:26,440 Number two, he says you shall not worship them. 75 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:30,040 The word worship means you shall not bend before them. 76 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,480 You shall not make yourself prostrate before them. 77 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:39,760 You shall not invoke the name of God and fall down before this idol. 78 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:44,460 And he says thirdly, you shall not serve them. 79 00:07:44,460 --> 00:07:52,280 That is, you shall not worship them by means of sacrifices or of ceremonial rituals of 80 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:53,920 some sort. 81 00:07:53,920 --> 00:08:00,420 Now let me just express for a moment what this command is not about. 82 00:08:00,420 --> 00:08:07,880 This command is not condemning art, whether it be sculpture or painting or pottery or 83 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:10,880 any form of art. 84 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:15,000 Nor does it forbid the representation of something. 85 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:27,080 In fact, God himself ordered the representation of the cherubim in the fabric of the tabernacle. 86 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:33,320 There are a few rather extreme religious sects that would take this command to mean that 87 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:39,080 you should never have your picture made or that you should never put a picture in your 88 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:45,720 home of anyone or that you should never have art. 89 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:48,640 That is not what this command is about. 90 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:50,960 What is God's point here? 91 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:54,600 Because he certainly has a point. 92 00:08:54,600 --> 00:09:05,020 It is that we are to make nothing that is to represent the true and living God to us. 93 00:09:05,020 --> 00:09:11,320 We are to make nothing that we would call an aid to the worship of God. 94 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:16,660 Now I use that phrase because that is a phrase that has been given to me in times past as 95 00:09:16,660 --> 00:09:21,720 I have discussed with people why they have statues in their churches. 96 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:24,660 And they say these are aids to worship God. 97 00:09:24,660 --> 00:09:31,680 That is specifically what is forbidden in the second commandment. 98 00:09:31,680 --> 00:09:39,120 We are not to make anything that is to represent the true and living God to us. 99 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:43,820 What God says here is not merely a repetition of the first commandment. 100 00:09:43,820 --> 00:09:46,680 It builds upon it. 101 00:09:46,680 --> 00:09:51,440 It is a command against worshiping the true and living God, which is commandment number 102 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:53,600 one. 103 00:09:53,600 --> 00:10:02,760 Making any form or likeness of something or someone, we are not to do that. 104 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:07,120 I am going to take just a moment to turn with you, if you will please, to Deuteronomy chapter 105 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:11,220 four where we have an elaboration upon this. 106 00:10:11,220 --> 00:10:20,120 This is forty years or so later as Moses speaks to the children of Israel. 107 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:23,880 And he reminds them of this very occasion that we are studying in Exodus twenty. 108 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:30,800 He says in verse ten, Deuteronomy four, Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God 109 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:35,840 at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, assemble the people to me, that I may let them hear 110 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:38,360 my words, so that they may learn to fear me. 111 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:45,760 And all the days they live on the earth, and they may teach their children. 112 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:48,520 And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain. 113 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:54,840 The mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens, darkness, cloud, and 114 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:55,840 thick gloom. 115 00:10:55,840 --> 00:11:04,320 And so he recounts this awesome physical manifestation of God at Mount Sinai. 116 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:09,040 Then the Lord spoke to me, or to you rather, from the midst of the fire. 117 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:16,240 You heard the sound of words, but you saw no form, only a voice. 118 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:20,960 So He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, that is, the 119 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:23,120 Ten Commandments. 120 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:26,880 And He wrote them on two tablets of stone. 121 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:30,840 And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments that you 122 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:35,360 might perform them in the land where you are going over to possess it. 123 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:43,840 So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke 124 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:51,840 to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make a graven image 125 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:59,680 for yourselves in the form of any figure, in the likeness of male, female, animal, a 126 00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:04,600 bird, anything that creeps on the ground, or a fish. 127 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:10,360 And He warns them about using the stars for worship in verse 19. 128 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:14,760 But He says, the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace from Egypt to 129 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:18,960 be a people for His own possession as today. 130 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:24,600 Verse 23, so watch yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He 131 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:30,360 made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which 132 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:32,800 the Lord your God has commanded you. 133 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:39,920 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. 134 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:46,840 And so God clearly means in the second commandment that we are not to make an image representing 135 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:49,960 Him. 136 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:50,960 Why is that? 137 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:59,000 Because God is Spirit, and He has no material form. 138 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:03,560 That is the theological reason that is behind this. 139 00:13:03,560 --> 00:13:10,880 Everything that is made is inherently limited, it's finite, it's created. 140 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:19,720 Therefore it is a false representation of the God who is infinite in every respect and 141 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:22,720 who is uncreated. 142 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:27,960 Kyle and Delich, two commentators in the Hebrew language say, whenever Jehovah, the God who 143 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:35,320 cannot be copied because He reveals His spiritual nature in no visible form, is worshiped under 144 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:42,480 some visible image, the glory of the invisible God is changed. 145 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:48,520 Or Jehovah changed into a different God from what He really is. 146 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:55,960 A.W. Pink, another commentator says, the design of the commandment is to draw us away from 147 00:13:55,960 --> 00:14:08,320 carnal conceptions of God and to prevent His worship being profaned by superstitious rights. 148 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:17,080 Jesus said that God desires worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth, not 149 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:28,560 by forms, not by images, which do in fact appeal to the carnal sensibilities of a person. 150 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:33,540 They do appeal to that religious flesh that is in us. 151 00:14:33,540 --> 00:14:41,960 We like something tangible, but God forbids it because it cannot possibly represent Him 152 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:44,880 and His majesty and glory. 153 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:53,800 Now, there's a practical reason besides a theological reason for God giving this commandment. 154 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:57,480 A practical reason for the nation. 155 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:05,760 When one nation destroyed another nation in those days, they would seek to destroy any 156 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:13,940 images or idols or temples to the gods of that destroyed people. 157 00:15:13,940 --> 00:15:16,400 This had a terribly demoralizing effect. 158 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:21,680 Do you remember when the Philistines stole the Ark of the Covenant and they put it in 159 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:28,960 their temple to Dagon, the false god, and this silly god kept falling on its face? 160 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:31,520 It wouldn't stand up. 161 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:36,560 And finally, they got so discouraged by the situation that they sent the Ark back to Israel 162 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:38,360 and said, take this thing. 163 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:39,960 Now, why? 164 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:43,380 Because they were demoralized. 165 00:15:43,380 --> 00:15:49,720 Because their god kept falling down before the Ark of the Covenant, the living God. 166 00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:54,680 Cyrus Gordon is quoted by John Davis in his book, Moses and the Gods of Egypt. 167 00:15:54,680 --> 00:16:00,880 He says, it is worthy noting that the defeated nations on seeing their idols dragged off 168 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:06,240 and smashed tended to become demoralized and lose their identity. 169 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:12,800 Assyria, Babylonia, the Seleucids in Rome could not destroy the Jewish religion partly 170 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:21,840 because God and His people's allegiance to Him were incorporeal and therefore indestructible. 171 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:27,700 What he's saying is that their god was not represented in an idol that these conquering 172 00:16:27,700 --> 00:16:30,640 nations could destroy. 173 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:32,680 He was invisible. 174 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:33,760 He was spiritual. 175 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:36,480 He was in their hearts. 176 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:40,880 And so he goes on to say, the second commandment thus paved the way for the historic survival 177 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:45,720 of Yahwism, that is the worship of Yahweh. 178 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:49,780 So that was a practical reason that God gave to the nation, but there's also a practical 179 00:16:49,780 --> 00:16:51,320 reason for the individual. 180 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:52,320 It's personal. 181 00:16:52,320 --> 00:17:01,800 And it's this, the false belief systems represented by the idols lead to false behavior. 182 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:06,440 We become like what we worship. 183 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:12,520 And so God wanted to take away those, the tendencies of Israel to put up idols like 184 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:19,840 the rest of the nations because the worship of idols inevitably led to moral and spiritual 185 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:23,920 corruption and abominations before God. 186 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:30,580 And so there was a personal reason and it is that false gods tend to remake men in their 187 00:17:30,580 --> 00:17:34,020 image. 188 00:17:34,020 --> 00:17:38,200 And so God wanted the false gods removed, no idols. 189 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:43,720 Now I want to talk about the statement of God's character that we see and God tells 190 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:47,820 us what His character is going back to Exodus chapter 20. 191 00:17:47,820 --> 00:17:53,660 The statement that we see that begins in the middle of verse 5 actually refers back to 192 00:17:53,660 --> 00:18:00,200 both of the first two commandments, the worship of the Lord their God. 193 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:07,020 And he explains why he gives this commandment as to how God is to be worshiped. 194 00:18:07,020 --> 00:18:11,840 He says in the first place that He is a God who is jealous. 195 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:13,120 That's the kind of a God He is. 196 00:18:13,120 --> 00:18:14,120 That's His character. 197 00:18:14,120 --> 00:18:17,760 He's a jealous God. 198 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:21,640 Now when we see the word jealous, we immediately jump to some negative conclusion because we 199 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:26,120 see jealousy so often mentioned in the Bible as sinful and fleshly. 200 00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:30,680 And it is coming out of our corrupt natures. 201 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:37,160 But also is there not a righteous jealousy that can be observed? 202 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:45,720 For example of a husband or a wife or his or her spouse if there's a challenge there? 203 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:49,460 Yes, that is a good kind of jealousy. 204 00:18:49,460 --> 00:18:54,460 We ought to be jealous for our marriages, jealous for the covenant that we've made in 205 00:18:54,460 --> 00:19:00,880 marriage with that very special person that God has brought into our life. 206 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:13,280 It is that kind of jealousy in its human dimension that we see in its perfect revelation in God. 207 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:21,040 This adjective jealous is found six times in the Old Testament only. 208 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:26,000 There are two other similar words in addition to that that are found that are translated 209 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:27,000 jealous. 210 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:31,520 But it's not a common word in the Old Testament. 211 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:34,000 But it always refers to God. 212 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:38,560 And what it's saying is that God is not a tolerant God. 213 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:41,680 Now I'm sorry if you're politically correct. 214 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,000 You're going to struggle with this a little bit. 215 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:45,000 You need to know something. 216 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:52,080 God is not a God who is tolerant of what offends Him. 217 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:55,440 God is not tolerant of what offends His holiness. 218 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:56,640 You see God is holy. 219 00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:58,840 He is different than we are. 220 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:00,400 That's why He makes the commandment. 221 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:04,720 Don't make an image that represents me because you can't do that. 222 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:05,720 I am holy. 223 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:06,920 I am so different than you. 224 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:11,400 I am above you. 225 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:12,960 So don't make an image like that. 226 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:14,280 That makes me jealous. 227 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:20,200 I am not tolerant of that because it offends my holiness. 228 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:23,400 It offends who I am. 229 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:28,820 Again I quote Kyle and Delich who say that the Lord quote, will not transfer to another 230 00:20:28,820 --> 00:20:33,560 the honor that is due to Himself nor tolerate the worship of any other God. 231 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:37,920 You see and that's the point. 232 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:42,360 Isaiah thundered in the 42nd chapter of his book the word of the Lord. 233 00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:43,960 I am the Lord. 234 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,040 That is my name. 235 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:54,360 I will not give my glory to another nor my praise to graven images. 236 00:20:54,360 --> 00:21:06,320 God is jealous that His glory, His holiness, His, if I may use the term, His absolute uniqueness, 237 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:16,560 His uncreatedness, His self-existence as the supreme eternal personal being. 238 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:25,080 He is jealous that all of that not be perverted by some idol that is to represent Him. 239 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:26,080 God is jealous. 240 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:27,080 We learn that about His character. 241 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:31,780 Secondly, we see that God punishes. 242 00:21:31,780 --> 00:21:37,580 He says, I visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children. 243 00:21:37,580 --> 00:21:39,240 He is a God who punishes. 244 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:43,640 There is a warning here to Israel and to all people. 245 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:48,080 The heat of His anger is felt by those who hate Him. 246 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:53,040 Now what does it mean to hate God in this context? 247 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:54,840 Well it means not to do what He says. 248 00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:55,840 What did He say to do? 249 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:58,480 Don't make an idol. 250 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:04,160 So to hate God here means to make an idol. 251 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:11,160 And God is saying that those who follow idols, those who make idols, will be punished to 252 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:14,480 the third and the fourth generation. 253 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:21,280 Now this does not mean that God punishes the children for the sins of their parents without 254 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:29,280 any fault of their own, or that a child must repent for the sins of his parents or be bound 255 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:31,000 by the sins of his parents. 256 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:36,280 But what it does mean is this, that false worship is very likely to be transferred to 257 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:44,520 succeeding generations, by example, so that the children tend to fill up the sins of their 258 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:48,760 forebearers, their ancestors. 259 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:56,320 Then when judgment finally comes, when the cup of iniquity is filled, as it were, it 260 00:22:56,320 --> 00:23:02,360 is the result of that generation's sins, but also the preceding generation's sins that 261 00:23:02,360 --> 00:23:03,620 led them to it. 262 00:23:03,620 --> 00:23:05,640 That's what God is saying here. 263 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:08,920 We don't have time to look at illustrations, but let me just give you a couple of texts 264 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:09,920 to look at. 265 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:13,880 Genesis 15 verses 13 to 16. 266 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:16,440 Leviticus 26, 39. 267 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:18,680 Daniel 9, 16. 268 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:22,600 You will see this principle in action. 269 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:25,800 Now there's a third statement regarding God's character that he gives us here. 270 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:30,280 It is that he is a God who shows loving kindness. 271 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:36,040 Now if the preceding one was a warning, this one is an assurance, and it is directed toward 272 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:37,240 those who love him. 273 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:44,520 He says, I show loving kindness to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. 274 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:50,800 So again, love means to worship God the right way, to worship the right God in the right 275 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:51,800 way. 276 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:54,680 Let's put it that way. 277 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:55,680 God is kind. 278 00:23:55,680 --> 00:24:05,680 He is loyal in his love to thousands of generations of those who obey him, who love him. 279 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:11,380 G. Campbell Morgan says, if a man sweeps the idols away and gets into living connection 280 00:24:11,380 --> 00:24:17,680 with God, worshiping him without anything between, the result will be that his child's 281 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:21,320 child will most likely so worship. 282 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:28,040 So you see, just as false worship tends to follow from generation to generation, so does 283 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:29,920 true worship. 284 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:33,040 Only much more so. 285 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:39,560 The warning is to three and four generations, but the grace of God abounds far beyond that 286 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:45,960 to thousands of generations, he says, is this positive tendency for the worship of the true 287 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:48,080 God to go on. 288 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:52,800 Seems to me that this is something of an Old Testament statement of that principle of Romans 289 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:56,760 where Paul says, where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. 290 00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:04,320 Now I want to close with some applications for our lives in this second commandment. 291 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:11,440 I want to begin by saying this, how we worship makes a difference to God. 292 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:15,800 Boy, do we need to write that in our hearts. 293 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:20,000 How we worship makes a difference to God. 294 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:27,080 Worship has been trivialized, writes Douglas Beier, because people have no awareness of 295 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:33,780 how it matters to the great Yahweh. 296 00:25:33,780 --> 00:25:42,580 We are so casual in our approach to God, often thoughtless in the way that we come to worship 297 00:25:42,580 --> 00:25:49,260 and present ourselves to him in worship. 298 00:25:49,260 --> 00:25:53,000 I can hear someone say, well, you know, as long as the person is sincere, isn't that 299 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:54,320 what counts? 300 00:25:54,320 --> 00:26:02,880 Well, certainly sincerity counts for something, but I remind you that Cain was also sincere. 301 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:07,720 And God rejected his worship. 302 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:16,080 If you look at the Old Testament, you will find that worship of God is a perilous business. 303 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:24,680 Moses' nephews, Nadab and Abihu, who were priests, were killed by God because they took 304 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:34,120 coals from the wrong altar and offered them to God, and incense that was offered, and 305 00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:37,000 apparently also at the wrong time of day. 306 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:43,560 Now, there is some indication because of what follows there in Leviticus chapter 10 that 307 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:48,400 they were also drunk when they did this. 308 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,680 But that isn't the reason they died. 309 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:56,000 They died because they worshiped God in the wrong way. 310 00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:00,920 Uzziah was fearful that the ark of the Lord was going to fall off the cart. 311 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:02,560 He touched it, and what happened? 312 00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:11,500 God struck him dead immediately because no one was to touch the ark of the covenant. 313 00:27:11,500 --> 00:27:16,860 And Aniass and Sapphira in the New Testament were hypocritical about what they put in the 314 00:27:16,860 --> 00:27:19,560 offering plate. 315 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:25,120 God struck them both dead. 316 00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:33,480 Here in Exodus, in the 32nd chapter, there were 3,000 people who died in one occasion 317 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:44,720 simply because they made a golden calf to represent Yahweh. 318 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:49,440 But God had said, don't do this. 319 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:57,600 Now, I'm not saying that God is going to strike us dead if we don't cross all of our T's 320 00:27:57,600 --> 00:27:59,720 and dot all of our I's, just perfect. 321 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:01,000 God is a gracious God. 322 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:03,600 He is merciful. 323 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:04,600 He is loving. 324 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:10,280 But folks, let us remember that the God that we come to church to worship is this same 325 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:15,440 Yahweh that we see in Exodus chapter 20. 326 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:21,480 And He is a God who is a jealous God, and He cares how we come to worship. 327 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:29,600 What ought this to say about our attitudes as we come? 328 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:39,120 If we come to church and we were mad at somebody and we have a grudge against another person, 329 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:49,960 and we have a sour attitude about something that's happened, what are we to do before 330 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:54,000 we get to church? 331 00:28:54,000 --> 00:29:00,860 How ought our hearts to be prepared before we come in here and lift our voices and choruses 332 00:29:00,860 --> 00:29:04,160 singing to God? 333 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:08,880 What ought it to say about our demeanor in church? 334 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:17,000 I don't think it means that we have to sit rod straight and stone-faced in church because 335 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:23,200 God is holy as they did in the colonial days. 336 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:31,320 But it does mean that our demeanor ought to be respectful of the holy presence of God. 337 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:34,240 Sometimes I wonder when we're singing if we realize what we're singing. 338 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:39,160 We'll sing a chorus, for example, and we say, I lift my hands unto your name, and we're 339 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:42,640 standing there like this. 340 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:49,800 Well, it might be better for me not to sing that phrase than to sing it and be disconnected 341 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:52,160 and to lie about it. 342 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:53,640 There's an integrity problem there. 343 00:29:53,640 --> 00:30:00,400 I don't want to press that too hard, but you understand my point, that we need to see that 344 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:03,520 our demeanor is appropriate in worship. 345 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:05,720 How ought it to affect our dress? 346 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:12,840 Did you know that God was very particular how people dressed who served Him in the priesthood 347 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:15,600 in the Old Testament? 348 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:18,000 God was very particular about that. 349 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:21,140 God hasn't told us exactly how we ought to dress. 350 00:30:21,140 --> 00:30:24,800 We shouldn't dress like the priests of the Old Testament, but we ought to come to church, 351 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:34,200 I think, in our best and not come waddling in and cut-offs and thongs. 352 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:37,280 Why? 353 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:38,560 God cares how we worship. 354 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:44,520 You see, how we come to worship says something about what we think of God. 355 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:49,200 Now, the best somebody has may be cut-offs and thongs, and if that's the case, that's 356 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:50,200 fine. 357 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:53,060 And certainly there are cultures where that is the case. 358 00:30:53,060 --> 00:30:58,000 That's exactly how they dress, and that's fine, but that's not our culture. 359 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:05,440 Secondly, I want to say how we worship exposes whom we love. 360 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:09,280 If we love God, we will worship Him as He commands us to. 361 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:14,480 We'll put aside our tendency to say, well, I prefer this, or I prefer that. 362 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:19,840 No, we will say, here's how God wants me to come, and I will come and worship God that 363 00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:20,840 way. 364 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:23,560 I love God when I keep His commandments. 365 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:31,880 Now, obviously there are allowances for cultural variety, but there is no allowance for anything 366 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:38,560 that compromises the truth of who God is in His character. 367 00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:40,640 There's no compromise there. 368 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:43,720 And the third thing I want to say in closing is this. 369 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,840 How we worship affects future generations. 370 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:51,240 First, our own kids. 371 00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:58,440 If we come to worship ill-prepared, insincere, or hypocritical, don't think for a moment 372 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:01,000 that that will not translate to our children. 373 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:03,080 It will. 374 00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:07,880 On the other hand, if we come to worship with our hearts right with God, if we come to worship 375 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:13,860 sincerely, if we come in spirit and in truth, then the blessing of God will multiply to 376 00:32:13,860 --> 00:32:19,600 our children and to our children's children and for generations to come. 377 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:21,040 That's what God is saying here. 378 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:22,700 Still applicable today. 379 00:32:22,700 --> 00:32:28,240 How we worship God affects future generations. 380 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:43,000 How we worship is as important as whom we worship because we become like what we worship. 381 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:53,120 And that's why even the aged Apostle John, writing with his old hands, that's why he 382 00:32:53,120 --> 00:33:03,400 says as he closes out the book of 1 John, little children, guard yourselves from idols. 383 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:06,000 Let's pray. 384 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:22,400 Father, our prayer is that you will help us to see the idols in our lives. 385 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:30,480 Because we often imagine that this commandment does not apply to us because we don't set 386 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:36,700 up gods of stone and wood. 387 00:33:36,700 --> 00:33:45,480 But Lord, help us to see the invisible gods that too often are there and which cloud the 388 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:53,000 worship of you and your glory, which cause our lives eventually to be perverted and twisted 389 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,680 because we become like what we worship. 390 00:33:55,680 --> 00:34:03,520 Oh Lord, free us, I pray, from idolatry. 391 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:15,120 Free us from any kind of idolatry that our worship of you may be sincere and right. 392 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:23,320 And with our heads bowed, just allow the Spirit of God to focus your mind for a moment on 393 00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:32,080 some idol that may be upon the throne of your life. 394 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:42,240 And whether that be some attitude or a carelessness about worship, a demeanor, a failure, whatever 395 00:34:42,240 --> 00:34:54,560 it be, rip that idol off the throne right now and break it in the presence of the Lord. 396 00:34:54,560 --> 00:35:13,560 Let us stand together.